High Strange - Episode 03: Exam Conditions

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

In a small school in Wales, children were separated, given paper, and asked to draw what they saw. Decades later, the results still refuse to make sense.   Want more? Our High Strange music playl...ist is now available exclusively on Apple Music. Visit the link in our show notes or go to apple.co/highstrangeplaylist  To access our book list, go to apple.co/highstrangebooks  To find us in Apple Maps, go to apple.co/highstrangeguide For ad-free listening and bonus content, subscribe to Tenderfoot+ now! Members get all episodes ad-free plus bonus content throughout the season. Sign up at apple.co/highstrange. For Spotify, Google, and other Android users, visit tenderfootplus.com.   Follow along on social and the web: @highstrange on Instagram @highstrange on TikTok highstrange.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband, Mike, was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever. I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately, the mask came off. You're supposed to be safe.
Starting point is 00:00:24 That's your home. That's your husband. Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 1969, Malcolm and Martin are gone. America is in crisis. At a Morehouse college, the students make their move. These students, including a young Samuel L. Jackson, locked up the members of the Board of Trustees, including Martin Luther King's senior. It's the true story of protests and rebellion in black American history that you'll never forget.
Starting point is 00:00:55 I'm Hans Charles. I'm Minnick Lamumba. Listen to the A-building on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bowen-Yin. And I'm Matt Rogers. During this season of the Two Guys' Five Rings podcast, in the lead-up to the Milan-Cortina-2020 Olympic Games,
Starting point is 00:01:14 we've been joined by some of our friends. Hi, Bowen, hi, hi, Matt, hi, hi, Matt. Hey, Elmo. Hey, Matt, hey, Bowen. Hi, Cookie. Hi. Now, the Winter Olympic Games are underway, and we are in, in Italy to give you experiences from our hearts to your ears.
Starting point is 00:01:30 Listen to Two Guys Five Rings on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, Tenderfoot listeners. We want to hear from you. We just launched a survey and want to know about your favorite shows, your merch requests, and what you'd like to listen to in 2026. Give us the gift of your feedback, and you might be one of our winners to get free merch and a $100 Amazon gift card. Head over to Tenderfoot.tv slash survey for more.
Starting point is 00:01:56 Thanks again. Now here's the show. Hi Strange is released every Friday and brought to you absolutely free. But for ad-free listening, exclusive bonuses, and early access to episodes, subscribe to Tinderfoot Plus at tenderfootplus.com or on Apple Podcasts. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast author or individuals participating in the podcast. and do not represent those of iHeart radio, Tinderfoot TV, or their employees. This podcast also contains subject matter which may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome to High Strange.
Starting point is 00:02:56 I was 10 at the time. I was coming up to 11. The school was very much like a small family. It was only 125 people. We were all close. It was a nice atmosphere to grow up in. Lunchtime came around. I thought I'd rather stay in and read a book and go out in that weather.
Starting point is 00:03:21 But some of the kids went out. I was a very voracious reader at that time. The end of lunchtime, they came in. Groups of them were saying that they'd seen something out in the playground. A number of them were saying that they'd seen an object. They were describing it as a flying saucer. It didn't seem like they were having a joke. It really didn't.
Starting point is 00:03:52 They actually sounded like they meant it. But I am a total skeptic. I have no belief system. I don't believe in UFOs as simple as that. The teacher at the time was the headmaster, Ralph Lleyn. He dismissed it as a joke. The headmaster was dismissing it as some wind-up that was going on, some joke that they were trying to play.
Starting point is 00:04:20 We finally broke up at the end of school. I'm still not believing it. There's no way that flying sources are going to be happening around Pembrokeshire. Twinele Bell went at the end of school. I went up to the top of the school to see if I could actually see anything. Investigates a bit closer. I stepped over the perimeter fence. And as I got one foot over,
Starting point is 00:04:57 It literally rose up from behind trees. I froze. This thing, it was about 45 feet long. Silver. It was just rising from behind the trees vertically. No sense of propulsion at all. What I'm seeing in front of me is real. I've got something in front of me that shouldn't exist,
Starting point is 00:05:25 but does. You know, I had no problem with accepting that somewhere out in the cosmos, they might be other life. But I didn't think it was visiting. I was looking at this thing. I was going to stand here and watch it for as long as I could. And that's where the weirdness sort of starts. There was a thought in my brain.
Starting point is 00:05:54 I should leave. What do you mean a thought? something that wasn't mine there was a suggestion there that I should leave the area so it wasn't like instinctual response no no no no no I had absolutely no fear at all the moment that I appreciated what I had in front of me had that thought I should leave
Starting point is 00:06:18 it wasn't to run away out of fear it was more like a caution please leave the area I've been told to get away I did run. Dave says the thought appeared in his mind. It wasn't fear. It wasn't instinct. It was like a third-party suggestion.
Starting point is 00:06:38 Not to scream or panic. Just leave the area. Something that didn't come to me until a few years later, I can remember getting in the taxi and the journey home. The journey home was done in complete silence. All of us, including the taxi driver didn't say a word
Starting point is 00:07:00 Wouldn't you guys be talking about this crazy thing you just saw? That's the weird thing I was in a car with another two witnesses A group of us had just seen a flying saucer A UFO We said nothing at all Why?
Starting point is 00:07:18 I don't know I'm not asking you to decide what that means I'm asking you to notice how specific It is. The taxi dropped me off about 10 minutes later. I got out the taxi, and the moment I saw my mother, it was like, Mom, just saw a UFO. It was like suddenly I'd switched back on again.
Starting point is 00:07:43 What'd you tell your mom? I just said. I've just seen a flying saucer. Fear is chaotic. This isn't. It's procedural. A simple thought, leave the area, and then Dave runs. I mean, my mother knows me.
Starting point is 00:07:58 There was no disbelief. The moment I said it, she instantly saw that I was being truthful. We went back down to the school that night to have a look. Obviously, by the end of it got dark, it was February. Saw nothing at all. Following day, we went back with a local reporter called Hugh Turnbull who worked for the Western Telegraph. We went back down the school again. and investigated the area in which I'd seen the object.
Starting point is 00:08:33 What'd you see? There was a broken branch. Telephone pole had been dislodged, which had just been recently repaired. The cross piece on the actual pole had been knocked at about 45 degrees. They couldn't really put it down to anything other than something knocking into it.
Starting point is 00:08:58 There was no way. reasonable explanation for anything that we'd seen. The ride home, you have three kids who allegedly just saw a flying saucer. No adrenaline, no replay, no disbelief, just silence. The second Dave got home, everything switches back on. He tells his mother, and she immediately believes him. She can tell by his face. That's the first adult truth test in this story.
Starting point is 00:09:30 By Monday morning, the national press were already phoning the school. Monday morning we got into school. Instantly, the headmaster pulled all of the ones who had claimed to have seen the UFO to one side and isolated us. About 14 of us. He then put us in examined conditions, sitting apart from each other with him observing. then gave us all a piece of paper and said, I want you to describe and draw what you saw. This is when the headmaster does something really smart.
Starting point is 00:10:09 14 kids separated. No collaboration, no discussion, exam conditions. Draw what you saw. We all drew the UFO that we'd seen, a brief description of it. Then once we'd finished, the headmaster went round, gathered up the pieces of paper, started looking at the pieces of paper, and went white.
Starting point is 00:10:33 All of those illustrations depicted the same object. His kids had seen something. It totally blew his mind and he didn't know what to think. They all depicted a silver scar-shaped object, a dome that covered the middle third of the craft, with a red light on top. We all drew the same object. no collaboration whatsoever, no social media, no internet, nothing. What does that tell you?
Starting point is 00:11:16 It pretty much confirms that we all saw the same thing. Something strange came out of the skies and landed in the Welsh village of Broadhaven. It was spotted three times by children from the local school. I've just been on the phone to their headmaster. I know that 16 children saw it. And did they all see the same thing? do you think? I got them to draw and write what they saw,
Starting point is 00:11:45 with similarity between all their descriptions. And do you believe it? I believe they saw something which is not common in the environment. Media all around the world, TV crews arriving from everywhere. The children say the object had a large dome, it was cigar-shaped and was silver in colour. It sort of dawned on us at that time that, that this was something a little bit more serious.
Starting point is 00:12:24 Senior officers from RAF Rawadie and the US Naval Facility, wanted to talk to us and find out what we'd seen. They looked at the illustrations we'd done, chatted with us as a group. They basically said, we have no idea what you've seen. What we can categorically state it has nothing to do with us. But we honestly believe you've seen something. The phones were being left off the hook at the school.
Starting point is 00:12:58 The headmaster was completely losing his will to live. We weren't trying to sensationalise it. We were just saying what had happened. If you can find the old... I think the oclips is still on YouTube and all. My friend Palapir was trying to find a way over the stream and I was looking at the bushes up the top of the trees. Was that you?
Starting point is 00:13:25 It was me. I remember that bloody top. And that hair cut. I was in the school playground. The spaceship, it looks as a cigar shape with a dome on it. It had yellowy orange to red light on the top of it. In Bordhaven, in Wales, some extremely interesting pictures. In some of things that told me they couldn't have known about, impossible.
Starting point is 00:14:05 My friend, Philippeo was trying to find a way over the stream and I was looking at the bushes up the top of the trees. And then suddenly the silver cigar-shaped object, seemed to pop up from behind the bushes, trying to take off, then it disappeared again. Were you frightened at the time? Yes. Now we got some young people in the studio who claim to have had encounters of their very own. We just ran off. We were so scared.
Starting point is 00:14:39 Welcome to the A building. I'm Hans Charles. I'm in Alec Lamouba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. have both been assassinated. And Black America was out of breaking point. Writing and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale. In Atlanta, Georgia at Martin's Almemata, Morehouse College, the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in black history, Martin Luther King Sr. and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution.
Starting point is 00:15:12 I mean, people would die. 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should, and it will blow your mind. Listen to the A building on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband, Mike, was on his laptop.
Starting point is 00:15:47 What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever. I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately, the mask came off. You're supposed to be safe. That's your home. That's your husband. So keep this secret for so many years, he's like a seasoned pro. This is a story.
Starting point is 00:16:17 about the end of a marriage. But it's also the story of one woman who was done living in the dark. You're a dangerous person who prays on vulnerable and trusting people. Your predator, Michael Leavengood. Listen to Betrayal Season 5
Starting point is 00:16:33 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bowen-Yen. And I'm Matt Rogers. During this season of the Two Guys' Five Rings podcast, in the lead-up to the Milan Quartina, at 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
Starting point is 00:16:48 We've been joined by some of our friends. Hi, Bois, hi, Matt. Hey, Elmo. Hey, Matt, hey, Bowen. Hi, Cookie. Hi. Now, the Winter Olympic Games are underway, and we are in Italy to give you experiences from our hearts to your ears.
Starting point is 00:17:04 Listen to two guys, five rings on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. China's Ministry of State Security is one of the most mysterious and powerful spy agencies in the world. But in 2017, the FBI got inside. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. This MSS officer has no idea the U.S. government is on to him. But the FBI has his chats, texts, emails, even his personal diary. Hear how they got it on the Sixth Bureau podcast.
Starting point is 00:17:41 I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question, of his life. And that's the unicorn. No one had ever seen anything like that. It was unbelievable. This is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its fault of secrets. Listen to the Sixth Bureau on the IHeart Radio app,
Starting point is 00:18:07 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wasn't just the Broadhaven Coast. Other incidents in the area started happening. They call it the Broadhaven Triangle. An area here in Pembrokeshire where sensible, down-to-earth people are constantly seeing strange objects in the sky, mysterious lights. It's an area where an entire classroom of school children saw from their playground a UFO. Are you all honestly going to say that if you think that the things you saw were, shall be saying much of this world?
Starting point is 00:18:49 Yes, it's right. Do you think those were related? Yeah. Basically the same objects. Silvest cigar-shaped objects sighted off the Gower, the Swansea Coast, another one in Lern. Yet another flying saucer to add to the lengthening list
Starting point is 00:19:11 of claimed sightings over Pembrokeshire countryside. From the south of Wales, right round to the southwest, the Welsh Triangle. Is it all really a case of mass hysteria, or is there some reality in the... unreal. The people who live around Broadhaven will tell you that
Starting point is 00:19:29 what they've experienced is real enough. There was another case. The Ripperston Farm case. Things were happening there that were almost like poltergeist activity. This story doesn't stay contained.
Starting point is 00:19:51 It only starts spreading. I could see this. You aren't the glint. I'm so, sir. I knew the people involved. I had no reason to doubt what they were saying. After the Broadhaven school incident, reports were coming in from all across the region,
Starting point is 00:20:19 different objects in the sky, the same shapes and colors. There were other tales in that region that play out like a nightmare. When you're an ordinary farming family and you're convinced you've seen spaceships and creatures from another planet, how do you persuade friends, neighbors, and the world in general that you've not taken leave of your senses. That's the constant problem
Starting point is 00:20:46 that's faced Billy and Colleen Coombs. When it happened to me the first time, I thought, you know, I'm imagining things. Over the years, I've sort of tried not to dwell on certain parts of the story. What kind of details? Occupants.
Starting point is 00:21:10 This silver-suited figure was wandering around Pambrockshire. Local residents claimed to have seen an enormous metallic-like man, jumping fences, standing in the window, other strange lights in the sky and encounters that feel way more personal. The silver-sooted man
Starting point is 00:21:34 was the most terrifying experience of it all. Something was happening. But what? The arms were exceptionally long, their legs were exceptionally long, and they definitely didn't have face. They were faceless people, no eyes, no mouth.
Starting point is 00:21:55 This thing brought to hedge and it jumped over this gate. It was something not all about it. No matter to jump that gate. Ripperston Farm. This isn't a side quest. This is escalation. The phenomenon leaves the school yard and enters private homes. Police were called out the night of the incident at the Coombs' Farm.
Starting point is 00:22:29 It's probably of all the incidents in my 26-year service. That's the most frightened family. I am helpless. Do you see arguments? No. A lot has to be who your witness is, the age of the witness, perhaps the social status of the witness, certainly the educational background, the integrity. And then the contamination arrives. The MOD asked the local MP what's happening down in Pembroich, By the time the local MP had been asked that, a hoax had been perpetrated.
Starting point is 00:23:21 A guy walking around Pembrokeshire dressed in a firefighter's suit, this silver-suited figure that was wandering around Pembrokeshire, everybody knew the incidents that he was responsible for, you know. Did they sort of conflate these two things? Yes. When the MP was asked what's going on in Pembrokeshire regarding the U.S., FO's flying sources, he got told about this person walking around Pembrokechard in a silver suit pretending to be an alien. And everything was closed down after that. That was the level of the inquiry.
Starting point is 00:24:08 Why do you think that happened? The hoax thing? Because Bedbishop is full of idiots. We arrived in school one morning to find the headmaster going absolutely nuts. There was what looked like a bomb in the front playground of the school. He identified it as the long-range fuel tank off a bomber. It was the fuel tank of a bomber. This rocket-shaped projectile. Plonked in the playground as a joke. Our headmaster got in touch with the media,
Starting point is 00:24:54 said about it, they came down and photographed it. Obviously, this is the UFO that you saw. Let's zoom out for a second. Do you have all these kids who claim to have seen the same UFO in their schoolyard? Then subsequent sightings of a similar object all around the region for months. Then it gets weirder and darker. People claim to see this large metallic man stalking them. Then there's reports of an actual man dressed up in a silver suit.
Starting point is 00:25:29 Yeah, there were hoaxes at the time. I know of one personally. He gave his story for the price of a half ounce of tobacco, with no truth in it whatsoever. We met one day, and he actually thought I was lying and confirmed it to me that he was lying and said, what about you here?
Starting point is 00:25:52 And I thought, no, mate. Who is this? No, that I don't want to confirm. If you get in contact with any of the kids that saw this object, they all, except for two, maintain that they saw that object. Welcome to the A building. I'm Hans Charles.
Starting point is 00:26:14 I'm Minalick Lamouba. It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. had both been assassinated. And Black America was out of breaking point. Writing and protests broke out on an unprecedented scale. In Atlanta, Georgia, at Martin's Almemata, Moore House College, the students had their own protest.
Starting point is 00:26:33 It featured two prominent figures in Black Hale. history, Martin Luther King's senior, and a young student, Samuel L. Jackson. To be in what we really thought was a revolution. I mean, people would die. In 1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone. The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago. This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should, and it will blow your mind. Listen to the A building on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your
Starting point is 00:27:11 podcasts. In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband, Mike, was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever. I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately, the mask. came off. You're supposed to be safe.
Starting point is 00:27:38 That's your home. That's your husband. So keep this secret for so many years. He's like a seasoned pro. This is a story about the end of a marriage. But it's also the story of one woman who was done living in the dark. You're a dangerous person who prays
Starting point is 00:27:59 on vulnerable and trusting people. Your creditor, Michael Levin Good. Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bowen-Yang. And I'm Matt Rogers. During this season of the Two Guys Five Rings podcast, in the lead-up to the Milan-Cortina 2020-2016 Winter Olympic Games, we've been joined by some of our friends. Hi, Bowen, hi, Matt, hi, Matt. Hey, Elmo.
Starting point is 00:28:27 Hey, Matt, hey, Bowen. Hi, Cookie. Hi. Now, the Winter Olympic Games are underway, and we are in Italy to give you. you experiences from our hearts to your ears. Listen to Two Guys Five Rings on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. China's Ministry of State Security is one of the most mysterious and powerful spy agencies in the world. But in 2017, the FBI got inside. This is Special Agent Regal, Special Agent Bradley Hall. This MSS officer has no idea the U.S.
Starting point is 00:29:04 government is on to him. But the FBI has his chats, texts, emails, even his personal diary. Hear how they got it on the Sixth Bureau podcast. I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question, of his life. And that's a unicorn. No one had ever seen anything like that. It was unbelievable. This is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its fault of secrets. Listen to the Sixth Bureau on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, the two that's plain they didn't and that they made it up, oh, God, how can I put this? When something's happening like that, you always get a couple of kids who will jump on a bandwagon.
Starting point is 00:30:05 The majority of us kids will tell you flat out straight that we saw. what we saw. However, throughout all this time, I've known that these particular ones were possibly not being completely honest. This is how real events get buried, not by disproving them, by surrounding them with stupidity until nobody wants to touch them. Hoaxes don't erase the signal, they just drown it. Over the years, I've sort of protected those two, because I don't want two people who just joined in at the time because something that was happening, who now say, oh no, we didn't see anything at all. I don't want those two having a negative impact on what the rest of us really did see.
Starting point is 00:30:58 It's almost slipped into folklore. Just press the green thing, can you say her? She knows they're here, by the way, because I said to earlier on. Hey, ma'am. Oh, are you? Hi, I'm. Hi, uh, don't swear because you're being recorded. Oh dear, it's a shame
Starting point is 00:31:34 She can swear Mom, have you got two minutes? Do you remember the day I came home from school After seeing the UFO? Oh, yes Definitely When he came home, what did he say? I thought, oh, you're joking, you know, boy
Starting point is 00:31:57 Anyway, I could tell By his face that he was telling me the truth because I could always tell if he was telling me a fib or not, but I knew this was genuine. I knew something had happened, yes, I believed them. All these years later, what do you think happened that day? What do you think these kids experienced? After all these years, I strongly saw something, a UFO,
Starting point is 00:32:25 which can't be explained, because, I mean, if they had lied, somebody would have spilled the beans by now and this has never ever happened they still tell you exactly what happened the same thing now all these years later was he a good kid yeah that's right yeah I was thinking that as well
Starting point is 00:32:52 yes you were on times what do you think it was after all these years well I keep an open mind But I believe that there is something up there. I don't know. It's my feeling that there is something. I haven't seen anything myself. But, yeah, I do believe there's something there.
Starting point is 00:33:17 Okay, ma'am. Talk to you soon. Anyway, ma'am. All right, Della. I might get in paid, but... Yeah, by the word. All right, love. Bye.
Starting point is 00:33:36 In the early days, I'd have probably thought that by now, we'd have had confirmation with being visited. The one thing that we have had in confirmation of in recent years is that these damn things exist. Whether we know what they are
Starting point is 00:33:56 or where they're coming from or whatever, confirming that these things exist. Major piece of vindication for me whilst I can't go out and say, okay, the aliens visit it, but I can go out and say the people. Look, US government has confirmed these damn things exist.
Starting point is 00:34:13 Now, please, will you stop saying, and they don't exist. I mean, ghosts. You either believe in ghosts, you don't. You can't prove that ghosts exist. We have proved that UFOs exist. All these years later, you've had almost 50 years to think about this.
Starting point is 00:34:36 What do you think it was that you saw that day? I think I've probably entertained all hypotheses. Extraterrestrial, that it's one of our own. is extra-dimensional. Even the possibility that these things are not coming from anywhere else, that they're a lot more local than we think, possibly coming from here. And by here, I do not mean human intelligences here.
Starting point is 00:35:17 I mean another intelligence here. I mean, I suppose the cop-out is to say aliens. A lot of it makes no sense. an intergalactic visitor would be coming here to look at primary school for kids. I'm more inkling that a lot of it could possibly be more in our neighbourhood dimensionally or another inhabitant of this planet
Starting point is 00:35:44 that we just pretty much unsure about. If there was a whole logic in the whole phenomena, it would be a lot easier to pin down where you think this is coming from. I've been led down certain paths where I'm thinking, yeah, it's definitely aliens. It's got a bit, yeah, yeah. And then all of some, there's stuff. Oh, no, it's not, it's not aliens.
Starting point is 00:36:16 Some of these objects seem to be showing the ability to dimensionally change in some ways, disappearing in a puffer logic. They don't seem to operate on the same physical plane as conventional aircraft. Unfortunately, my knowledge of quantum mechanics isn't good enough to actually sort of get down on this. But, I mean, don't think I haven't tried.
Starting point is 00:36:40 Perhaps there is a desire in me that I would like it to be aliens or an interdimensional species or something like that. Why? Because it confirms that there's a greater universe out there. However, if suddenly declassified documents were made available from the MOD or something that says, okay, sorry, it was one of ours. I would be happy with that. But it's been 50 years.
Starting point is 00:37:17 Yeah. And? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We're moving into a world where fewer things will stop and ask us, what do you want? Most systems are just going to guess. Optimize.
Starting point is 00:38:00 And decide what makes sense based on data and probability. And the annoying thing is, most of the time, they'll be right enough that it feels stupid to argue. That's the shift that's easy for all of us to miss. The future doesn't take your choices away. It just makes it easier to stop making them. You don't lose control in one big moment.
Starting point is 00:38:24 You lose it in small handoffs. One click. One default. Well, sure, that's fine. Until suddenly you look up and realize a lot of your life is running on autopilot. The skill that matters now isn't resisting. technology or just opting out of the world. It's noticing when you're drifting,
Starting point is 00:38:45 pausing long enough to ask a simple question. Did I actually choose this? Or am I just going along with it because it's easier? That question shows up everywhere. What you tolerate. But you let slide because you're tired or busy. We don't need to fight the future. We just need to stay awake inside it.
Starting point is 00:39:08 Because once you stop choosing, something else always chooses for you. As strange as Broadhaven is, it still sits in the realm of witness experience, sight, sound, memory, and human perception. Humans sometimes aren't the most reliable witnesses. It doesn't mean it didn't happen. But maybe the details aren't always perfect.
Starting point is 00:39:37 And when it comes to high strange stories, there are some that leave physical traces, physical evidence, and some of them don't make any sense at all. We're talking about cases where animals are found dead in wide open country, with entire sections of their bodies, removed with a level of precision that defies any easy explanation. No blood, no tire tracks, no signs of other animals, no signs of a struggle, period.
Starting point is 00:40:07 One of the most unsettling stories I found happened not long ago in eastern Oregon. It was a very hot first August. The livestock crew was managing livestock out on the range. Had cowboys out later on that morning. I received a call from my cow boss on the radio. We had these handheld radios that could reach across the ranch so that we could stay in communication. He calls me on the radio and he says,
Starting point is 00:40:41 one of our range bowls is dead. It looks like there's some odd, weird things about this animal. He was kind of describing for me what he was seeing. And so I started asking questions. It was probably about 40 minutes later. He calls me on the radio again and he says, you will not believe this. We found another range bowl that is dead.
Starting point is 00:41:17 And it is nearly in the exact same condition as the one he had found earlier. And I said, Okay, I'm going to jump on my pickup, and I'm going to come up there and take a look at. Now I've got two range bulls. Both have the same mutilations on their body, and that is just absolutely unheard of. I walked up to the very first bull, and as I'm walking up to him, I can just see his back, and he's laying on the ground. If you didn't know, you'd say he was just laying there asleep. walk around on the other side so that I could see his belly and his legs.
Starting point is 00:42:08 And that's when I saw that he had had his testicles completely removed. The penis was completely removed after a little bit further investigation. We saw that his tongue had been removed as well. You're looking at this and you're trying to process it in your brain because nothing makes sense about it. There's no struggle marks on the ground. There's no indications that they'd put up a fight. There was no bite marks.
Starting point is 00:42:48 There was no bullet wounds. It was so odd. I went back to the ranch, called the sheriff's office, and we got in touch with the state police, notified the Forest Service what we had found. whoever is doing this understands anatomy, I mean surgical precision. I've spent my whole entire life around livestock.
Starting point is 00:43:14 At no point in my life have I ever experienced anything like that. It makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. You start thinking, okay, how could this happen? Who would want to do this? What's the reason behind it? What's the purpose? Not naive to think there is an other life in the universe, why is it being done?
Starting point is 00:44:04 Hi Strange is a production by Tinderfoot TV in association with IHeart podcasts, created, hosted and edited by myself, Payne Lindsay. Executive producers are myself and Donald Albright. Editing by Mike Rooney, Cooper Skinner, and myself. Original score by makeup and vanity set. Sound design, mixing, and mastering by Cooper Skinner. Additional production by Mike Rooney, Dylan Harrington, Eric Quintana, Sean Nernie and Meredith Stedman.
Starting point is 00:44:32 Our cover art is by Polygon. Special thanks to Orrin Rosenbaum and the whole team at UTA, the Nord Group, Station 16, and Beck Media and Marketing. Check out the show's website at highstrange.com. And if you're enjoying the show, please help us out by rating and reviewing the podcast and share it with your friends. Thanks for listening.
Starting point is 00:44:58 In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband, Mike, was on his laptop, What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever. I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately, the mask came off. You're supposed to be safe. That's your home. That's your husband.
Starting point is 00:45:22 Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 1969, Malcolm and Martin are gone. America is in crisis. And at Morehouse College, the students make their move. These students, including a young Samuel L. Jackson, locked up the members of the Board of Trustees, including Martin Luther King's senior. It's the true story of protests and rebellion
Starting point is 00:45:47 in black American history that you'll never forget. I'm Hans Charles. I'm Mennelick Lemoombo. Listen to the A building on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bowen-Yin. And I'm Matt Rogers. During this season of the Two Guys Five Rings,
Starting point is 00:46:03 Thanks podcast, in the lead-up to the Milan Quartina-26 Winter Olympic Games, we've been joined by some of our friends. Hi, Boone. Hey, Matt. Hey, Matt. Hey, Bowen. Hi, Cookie. Hi.
Starting point is 00:46:17 Now, the Winter Olympic Games are underway, and we are in Italy to give you experiences from our hearts to your ears. Listen to two guys, five rings on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, tender for listeners. We want to hear from you. We just launched a survey and want to know about your favorite shows, your merch requests, and what you'd like to listen to in 2026.
Starting point is 00:46:42 Give us the gift of your feedback, and you might be one of our winners to get free merch and a $100 Amazon gift card. Head over to tenderfoot.tv slash survey for more. Thanks again. Now here's the show. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.

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